INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

166 ADJlIINISTRATIVE MANAGEME.YT
of the land within twelve hours of the deed. In
the same way, British humanity is as active ill
India to-day as it is at home; but it does not
require to be worked up in a sensational light.
There are, I confess, influences at work whic-h
seem to imply a slackness of sympathy with
the "useless gear," but the true significance
of these will soon be seen .by any discriminating
person on the spot; and I hope that
the many difficulties which are encounter~ in
the executive management of a famine, and
which will be to some extent detailed in the
next chapter, will help to dispel this idea of
remissness on the part of Anglo-Indians. I
may mention that my argument does not in·
elude the doctrine that nothing is to be gained
from home criticism. On the contrary, I must
confess myself to be a firm believer in Burns's
lines-
" Oh wad some Power the giftie gie us,
To see oursels as ithers see us ! "
and I may add that I consider them as appropriate
to myself and to this subject as elsewhere.